The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point publishes the CTC Sentinel, which ran a brief analysis on 29 May 2014 titled "Al-Hijra: Al-Shabab's Affiliate in Kenya" by Nairobi-based journalist Frederick Nzes.
The article profiles al-Hijra, formerly known as the Muslim Youth Center. Al-Hijra is a covert group of primarily Kenyan Somali and non-Somali Muslim followers of al-Shabaab in East Africa. The group may have been strengthened recently by fighters returning from Somalia and local recruits from East Africa.